


The Untold Stories

by JayTDawgzone9999



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga), Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Animals, Being Lost, Boats and Ships, Canon Era, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Coma, Drabbles, During Canon, Exactly What It Says on the Tin, F/F, F/M, Family Fluff, Fish, Fishing, Fluff, Gen, Getting Lost, Horror, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Large Ham, Loving Marriage, M/M, Martial Arts, Memories, Mild Blood, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Mixed Martial Arts, Multi, Non-Graphic Violence, One Shot Collection, Origin Story, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Original Mythology, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Random & Short, Rating is Different by Chapter, Romantic Fluff, Sailing, Short, Shorts, Snapshots, Some Humor, Stand-alone chapters, Storytelling, Suggestive Themes, Survival, Time Skips, Travel, Wild animals, Wilderness, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:55:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29296260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayTDawgzone9999/pseuds/JayTDawgzone9999
Summary: A series of one-shots and drabbles about a variety of different people in the Dr. Stone universe, pre and post petrification and the impact the petrification itself on the world as a whole.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Original Character(s)/Original Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Oringal Character(s) & Original Character(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Undisclosed Relationship(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Details

**Author's Note:**

> As the first tag implies, this is exactly what it sounds like, random adventures of different random people in the Dr. Stone universe, who may or may not interact with canon characters. I had the idea for doing something like this for a while and wanted to give it a try to see what happens.

As the title and tags imply, this is a series of one-shots about random different people in the Dr. Stone universe, pre and post petrification, about all sorts of random things they do or random things that happen to them. 

Each chapter will be labeled with tags that are relevant to that chapter, and if there's any type of sexual content, it'll be clearly tagged so you can search for or avoid any ships or themes that you like or dislike. Each chapter also has a different rating, hence why this fic is labled not rated, and the rating for each chapter will be clearly stated in the beginning notes for every chapter so you can avoid any sort of ratings you dislike. There may be male/female, male/male, and female/female content and any chapters with significant content of that nature will be tagged, hence why this fic is tagged with multiple relationship categories. 

If there's any kind of kinks or certain sexual themes, those will also be clearly tagged so you can search for them or avoid them. There are no adult/minor ships at all and no detailed descriptions of any adult characters having sex with any minor characters, as that's not something I'm comfortable writing about. Any common triggers (like death, suicide, violence, etc. will be tagged in the summary or beginning notes of every chapter.) If a chapter contains particularly triggering content, that will be clearly tagged so if you see something you don't like, you can back out of there easily without seeing it. There will be various characters and events from the manga mentioned about in here so if you're an anime-only and don't want manga spoilers, there's your warning. 

Some chapters will also involve random original characters interacting with canon characters, and that will be clearly tagged too so you can search for it or avoid it as you wish. The mood for each chapter will vary as well, with some being more serious than others, and the chapters are all stand-alone one-shots that aren't connected to each other so they're not in any sort of chronological order. More tags will be added to the characters category, relationship category, and the main tags category as more chapters are added to this story, and extra details will be added to this description as necessary.


	2. Argon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a hapless member of Ishigami village discovers that the village could really use some guards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teen rating, pre-canon, no romance, no smut, canon-typical violence, bears, don't try this at home.

Byakuya Ishigami did his best trying to save what was left of humanity. Really, he did. He did everything he could to pass down as much knowledge as possible to help his future descendants carve out a life for themselves and build a thriving civilization to replace what had come before. 

Things were bound to get lost over time, though, like some twisted cosmic game of telephone. Perhaps that was why, about a century after the brave, intelligent, determined astronaut passed away, Argon found himself face to face with an enormous grizzly bear. 

_____

"Hey dude, how's it going?" Boron, a random member of Ishigami village asked Argon, another random member of Ishigami village. 

"You know, same old, same old." Everything was pretty much the same in Ishigami village in the early days and it got old real fucking fast. 

Day to day life was much the same as time dragged on like a thick, sludgy puddle of molasses someone was trying to shake out of a jar in the middle of January at the North Pole. Hunting, building shelter, trying to grow food, making weapons, a dash of reluctant incest, the occasional incident of poison ivy rash, a smattering of sunburn in the summer or frostbite in the winter, a dusting of random accidental infections and poisonings, a few unfortunate incidents involving rocky cliffs, and mostly a whole lot of "holy fuck, there's nothing to do." 

Argon did his best to help out just like most of the rest of the village, building shit and hunting mostly, and he had a fairly productive stint fishing when Silicon, the top fisherman of the village, broke his leg in a freak wheelbarrow accident, but otherwise, he blended in like a three-leaf clover. Nobody loved or hated him passionately and generally speaking, nobody really gave a shit what he was doing when they didn't need him to help out with something. He didn't even know if he had any family (immediate family, at least, since everyone in this cursed village was related to each other somehow.) All that incest is really gonna fuck up our gene pool sooner or later, Argon thought a few hours later, taking a walk by himself. 

Given how slowly the population of Ishigami Village grew, it wasn't exactly a bumping hub for anyone trying to boost their social life, especially not someone as remarkably average as Argon. Standing at exactly 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighing exactly 150 lbs, with hair of the most statistically average shade brown in the known universe with eyes that matched, and absolutely no unique facial features, markings, or scars of any kind, Argon could be in a police lineup of 5 other people and half the village still wouldn't be able to pick him out. 

At least the landscape was pretty nice, though. A little cold, but hey, it was fall, or at least that was their best guess. Calendars really didn't make it into the stone age, so everyone just kind of winged it as best as they could. Eh, whatever. Probably wouldn't do any harm, right? 

Not like I'm an expert in these kinds of things. Oh well. Argon wasn't especially smart or especially dumb, being as average in intelligence as he was in everything else. On an IQ test, if such things still existed, he would have scored 100. He did have a habit of zoning out sometimes but given how fucking boring the early stone age was, who could blame him really? 

Just another dull old day, walking by some dull old trees in some dull old forest on some dull old planet spinning around the sun in some dull old solar system in some dull old milky way galaxy in some dull old universe. The boredom was so thick, someone could have implanted a whole other ass on Kim Kardashian with it. If we can ever get our village population above a few dozen people or so, we should really look into inventing some hobbies, Argon thought. Perhaps developing a hobby would make him more popular, he mused to himself, his nose wrinkling as he caught a whiff of a skunk spraying a raccoon. 

I wonder if people would argue with each other less often if people could just spray people like skunks when they get pissed at each other, he thought, stepping on a twig. The sun was starting to inch lower over the horizon, as it was mid to late afternoon, about an hour or two before sunset. Guess I better head back. 

Just as Argon hopped over a skinny little creek that was about 6 inches wide, spotting Ishigami village not too far off in the distance, he realized tonight was surf and turf night-also known as Wednesday. Silicon always went fishing on Wednesdays, trawling the waters nearby with a giant net his wife had sewn. Living by a large body of water had its benefits. 

Shouldn't take too long to get back home now-Argon noticed a somewhat shiny looking rock nearby, so he picked it up. Maybe I can make a knife out of this later-Just as he was within a stone's throw of the village, a terrifying roar shook him out of his thoughts. 

What the-

Oh damn. That was a bear. 

That thing's huge-Argon swallowed hard, paralyzed with a combination of fear and indecision as he saw a huge Grizzly bear, standing at about 8 feet tall when it got up on its hind legs, letting out an ear-splitting roar. And it's right at the border of the village. 

Ishigami Village may have been small, but it had its share of skilled fighters. Argon, however, wasn't one of them, and the enormous Grizzly bear, which had just spotted him in its beady little eyes, roared again, its face twisting in anger. 

400 milliseconds-or approximately one blink later, Argon experienced a startling epiphany, one that was sadly too late to help him out of his particular predicament. 

"We really need to post guards at the village border..." Argon's epiphany stayed firmly in the confines of his own mind as the grizzly bear picked him up, throwing him off into the distance. 

Thousands of years later, some said that somewhere in outer space, Argon was still flying through the air. Shortly after his disappearance, the grizzly bear, who had some as of yet unidentified beef with somebody in Ishigami Village, brought all its friends to the village a few weeks later, prompting the village to agree upon a unanimous decision to post guards at the border 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 

"You know, I wonder whatever happened to Argon..." Krypton, a random member of Ishigami village asked a few days after Ishigami Village decided to start posting guards at the village border. 

"Beats me." Radon, another random member of Ishigami Village, replied. 

"Hey, guess what, tonight's surf and turf night." Krypton loved surf and turf night, and Radon was all too happy when Krypton decided to share the good news with him. 

"Oh, hell yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference for how long it takes to blink: https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-do-we-blink-our-eyes-3879210


	3. Aster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young man living on Treasure Island finds out that curiosity doesn't kill the cat, but neglects to remember some things that can most definitely kill the proverbial cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, pre-canon, male/female romance, sailing, angst, no smut, wanderlust, adventure

Looking up at the sunrise shining over the small island, Aster, a proud warrior of Treasure Island, felt his heart skip a beat. It was four days until the summer solstice, the day when he planned to propose to his dear beloved Daphne and ask for her hand in marriage. He had a plan and everything, he was sure nothing would go wrong. 

Life on Treasure Island wasn't all that interesting (provided Minister Ibara didn't get in one of his dreaded moods,) but it had its upsides. The climate was agreeable, the fish in the sea (both in the literal sense and the metaphorical sense,) were plentiful, and invasions from hostile foreign nations were almost unheard of. Still, Aster couldn't help but wonder: what else lied beyond the bounds of the small island he had called home for all of the 25 years of his life? 

With each passing day, the curiosity grew a little more, building up ever so slowly but surely inside him, though he kept it well hidden. The master surely had his reasons for not wanting people to wander too far from Treasure Island and heavens knows Minister Ibara didn't take kindly to people trying to sneak off without permission. Ibara was rather creepy, but Aster supposed he had his reasons. He served the master, after all, and therefore must have known that the master had a good reason for not wanting people to leave all willy-nilly and go wandering off wherever. 

Besides, he was going to propose to his beloved Daphne in a few day's time. With the prospect of spending the rest of his life with her, Aster decided he could gladly live out the rest of life on Treasure Island. He had a respected rank in the island's army and enjoyed quite a few privileges because of his position. Whatever might have lied beyond the boundaries of Treasure Island, none of it could possibly hold a candle to his life once he got married. 

Beaming, Aster left his sleeping quarters, rushing off to find the rest of his battalion. Today was going to be another busy day, and it was best that he make sure to be early. Under Minister Ibara, early was as good as being on time and being on time was as good as being late, and being late did not bode well at all. 

Aster's good mood didn't last, however, as four days later, the day he planned to propose to Daphne, a cold feeling hit his stomach like a block of ice when, after heading over to the hut she shared with her mother and elderly grandfather, she was nowhere to be found. 

"Azalea, what's wrong?" Aster had a sinking feeling that he knew, but he also knew that if he didn't ask and hear it for himself, it would never cease to torment him. "Where's Daphne? What happened to her?" 

His heart pounding a mile a minute, his face twisting into a pained expression when he saw Daphne's mother start crying, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that his worst fear was realized. 

"Daphne...." the older woman could hardly collect herself-Aster couldn't blame her, and as much as he hated the way his heart was racing and detested the horrible bitter taste of bile rising in his throat, he willed himself to listen. "Daphne...well, the master...she was selected for his harem. He-we thought-she was over 18, I don't-" 

Aster said nothing as the woman broke down crying in his arms. He wanted to tear his hair out, but he knew it wouldn't help. There was no denying the master what-or who-he wanted. That was simply the way Treasure Island worked. For good or for ill, those were the rules of the island Aster had called home for his entire life, the island that was the center of his universe. Having nothing to say, he held his dear Daphne's mother in his arms, tears streaming down his own face. 

"My poor little girl....my little girl..." the older woman sobbed. "I'll never see my darling daughter again..." 

Once he was able to lead her inside and get her at least somewhat calmed down, Aster turned and left and, once he made sure he was no longer in eye sight of the hut Daphne shared with her mother and grandfather until the master took her for his harem, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, running past miles of trees, passing through the hot, humid jungle while hardly paying any attention to his surroundings, running until he reached the shores of the western coast. Nobody ever really went out here, besides young couples sneaking off somewhere to make out or the occasional person looking to soak up some sun, and Aster was relieved to find the beach deserted. 

Burying his head in his hands, leaning against a large rock, Aster broke down sobbing, tears and snot dripping down his face and mixing into one gross entity, the rest of him shaking like a leaf in the wind. Why him? Why her? Why his beloved Daphne? He was a high-ranking warrior in the army, what reason did the master have for taking Daphne? His dear, lovely Daphne, who he would have given his own life for. He was more than happy to endure any hardship or difficulty for her sake, and she loved him more than anyone else in his life ever had, and it was all for nothing. The master plucked her away just like that, like plucking a flower from the ground without a second thought. She was gone, and he would never see her again. 

He knew it was futile to challenge the master. If the master wanted something-or someone-the master would have it. It was not a question of if, but when. And even-no, never-mind. Aster shook his head, his face red and his eyes puffy from crying. Even if the master was kind enough to take pity on a simple warrior like him, Ibara would never allow a woman in the harem to return to her own life. Aster knew better than to cross Ibara. 

He had heard stories-they all heard stories. Everyone on the island knew the consequences of crossing Ibara. The rumors about the statues, the random attacks by wild animals, the sudden disappearances, the tragic accidents. These were all dark tales every man and woman, every boy and girl on Treasure Island knew full well about. It was futile. There would be no resistance. Ibara carried out the master's will with an iron fist, any mercy he gave tinged with the cruelty that ran deep in his veins, deeper than Aster ever thought was possible for anyone else. But Ibara was not anybody else. Minister Ibara was the hand that plucked whatever the master wanted out of wherever he found it, delivering to the master whatever he asked for. 

Aster might not have been able to challenge the will of the master or go against Ibara, but there was something else he could do. The salty tang of the ocean filled his nostrils, reminding him, quite suddenly, of something quite obvious and yet quite mysterious. There was a whole world out there-Treasure Island was not the only land mass in the entire world. Aster knew vague tales of the before times, times when iron cities and metal machines covered most of the Earth, times when people could travel from one end of the world to the other in a few hour's time, times when people lived in impossible spaces devoid of any contact with the natural world. Surely some remnants of those times-whether they be objects or people-had to exist somewhere in the world. 

Such a world, Aster reasoned, could not have vanished completely off the face of the Earth without a trace, no matter what the stories and tales told him. How could a few hundred years erase such a fantastical world off the map without leaving anything behind? It was impossible. It had to be, Aster told himself, heading back into the forest to gather some fruits and plants. After doing so, he then began building a canoe and an oar, being careful to keep to a shadowy corner behind the large rock he had been crying near a while ago. 

When he finished his task a few hours later, he loaded the boat with what he gathered-not too much, so the boat wouldn't capsize, but enough to last him at least a few days. He always kept his spear with him as well, which was more useful than some people were. He would miss everyone, but he couldn't risk going back to say goodbye. It was a miracle nobody had even caught him now. He knew what happened to people who were caught trying to escape the island by Ibara. 

His heart pounding like a set of drums and his hands shaking, Aster stepped onto the canoe, swallowing hard. Making even the tiniest sound could spell the end for him, and Aster had more he needed to do before his time came. Though he was unaware that Ibara was stinking drunk at the time and passed out lying on top of some poor harem girl at the moment and could not have possibly known otherwise, Aster knew the value of being cautious was useful in all aspects of life, not just those that happened to involve the intimidating minister. There was no telling who-or what-was listening, after all. 

His heart was in his throat and his stomach had sunk to the bottom of his canoe, but Aster knew there was no time to waste. It was now or never, and the entire world was in front of him. He swallowed his fear, his grief, and his regret, and began paddling. 

Several hours had passed without Aster hearing or seeing anything except the waves of the ocean. By now he realized he was pretty far from Treasure Island and there was no land in sight. He could not say why, but the urge to keep paddling consumed him, enveloping his entire being. It was his only purpose now, it was all he could do until he found land again, and he would not fail. Too much was riding on this for him to come all this way to fail now. Even as his arms ached, even as the hot sun beat down on his head, he kept paddling. 

The waves were not too harsh and the sky showed no signs of rain, and by all accounts the weather could be worse-it was not so hot that he was in immediate danger of dehydration after all. Convincing himself to focus on the positive, he put a determined smile on his face. Treasure Island was nowhere to be seen, and he had possibly sailed farther than any warrior of Treasure Island ever had. Maybe someday he would become a legend, finding a new land nobody had explored, perhaps he would even find friendly people and be able to start a new life somewhere. 

The world was full of possibilities, and here he was-he escaped the island without Ibara finding him, without being turned to stone or knocked out and locked up inside a cage or finding himself the victim of a gruesome "accident." He escaped-the thought alone was enough to make him giddy with joy. He would have jumped had he not been paddling the canoe like his life depended on it-which it did- but he knew deep down that he may very well have accomplished something nobody else on Treasure Island ever had before. That along was cause for celebration, of which he would worry about planning once he actually found land. 

The world was a huge place after all, and filled with possibilities. Aster was only too unaware of what that truly meant, finding himself confused when, at the height of the afternoon, the sky darkened much too quickly for it to be explained away by an approaching storm. A strange orb illuminated the newly darkened sky, ominous and alien in appearance, something wholly unnatural that Aster had never recalled seeing before in his life. 

Having no frame of reference for what he was seeing, Aster first thought he might have gotten dehydrated and was now hallucinating. Taking out some water he brought with him, he took a sip, perplexed when he found that the orb in the sky had not disappeared, but had grown bigger, spanning the entire sky like some demonic eye staring at him. 

"What the-what's-what's going on?!" Aster gripped the oar in his hand tighter when he heard a terrifying shriek, something clawing and inhuman, something so twisted and unnatural it could not possibly have belonged to any living being, or at least nothing from Earth. 

"No, no, no-" Sweat dripping down his back and a pit settling in his stomach, Aster's bottom lip trembled, the proud warrior paralyzed in shock at the inhuman screeching continued. 

"Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It droned on and on, Aster clutching the side of his canoe as the waves turned choppy, though there was no storm in the sky, no thunder, no lighting, no rain, not even a single cloud. There was darkness and water and waves, waves rocking his boat and knocking his supplies off, Aster clutching the canoe in horror as the voice continued. 

"Why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

Aster felt as if he was no longer in his body, not sure anymore whether it was him or the demonic voice yelling, all he heard was the incessant shrieking and something that sounded an awful lot like him screaming in pure, unadulterated terror. Orbs with the same alien appearance as the one that enveloped the sky but much smaller in size rained down on the ocean, knocking Aster right off his canoe as it capsized amidst the choppy waves, the air ringing with the same chant, why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why why-

No longer able to recall his thoughts before the presence of the orb darkened the sky and stirred up the sea, Aster felt a shock-wave jolt through him, something heavy and unbearably intense, like being bludgeoned with a hammer or crushed under a boulder, the pain so great he thought his bones were cracking and his skull shattering. 

"No, I can't-I can't-" Aster's thoughts scrambled into a jumble of nothingness, just pure insane gibberish as the mystery that painted the sky with its hideous orb continued raining down more of the smaller orbs, Aster finding himself unable to move even as his body hit the water, his body which now felt like lead mixed with molten lava. 

"Daphne-" Aster's eyes bulged almost out of his head as he found himself unable to blink, his heart rate and breathing getting knocked out of the necessary rhythm needed to sustain life, his whole body going hot and then numb in one horrible fell swoop, his nerves and muscles refusing to respond as his body was no longer his own, having been exposed to that which no human could withstand. "I'm sorry-forgive me, Daphne-" Aster's last thoughts rang in his head for several seconds as he sank into the ocean, his body turning into stone before his head slipped under the waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering about the timeline and if it seems unusually early for a certain character to show up, it's because I headcanon Ibara as being much older than anyone really has the right to be, as I don't believe he's actually human.


	4. Venus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When life thrusts you into unexpected circumstances, there's no telling what will happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, pre-canon, no romance, no smut, what-if, past, distant past

Ishigami Village, as far as anyone inside its borders knew, was more likely than not the last vestige of human civilization remaining. 

After the petrification, as it was called, when everyone except a small number of people turned to stone, decaying and crumbling away over the years, nature reclaimed the Earth, erasing much of the evidence of what existed before. As the last humans on Earth, the people of Ishigami Village wanted to make certain that, should anything happen to them and should any other exist somewhere in the far flung corners of the Earth and happen to find evidence of their small but determined village someday, there would be evidence of all the stories and accomplishments of humanity left to fling a light into the future. 

Life was hard and short in the difficult early days of Ishigami Village, where it was not uncommon to see children die before the age of 10 and not especially rare for people to die before 20. People reaching old age in those early times was almost unheard of, and those who did were revered as invaluable sources of information and held up as paragons of the indomitable nature of humanity. 

The world was a cold, harsh place, and nature was a cruel, uncaring mistress, unconcerned with how humans fared in the conditions they were trapped in, but humanity had lasted for thousands of years before the petrification, and the citizens of Ishigami Village were not willing to give up so easily. Inspired by the valuable information and stories passed down to them by their founder, Byakuya Ishigami, they resolved to carry on the brave hero's legacy, passing down the torch of human existence down to each future generation in an unbroken chain built with blood, sweat, tears, and determination. Without faith that humanity could overcome the challenges sent their way, there was nothing. 

Venus was 18 years old when she was approached by the chief of Ishigami Village, told that it would be up to her to memorize all of the stories passed down by Byakyua, and in turn, pass them down to the next generation. Becoming a living memory bank, Venus would be responsible for memorizing each of the hundred tales by heart and ensure that she passed them down to another before she died. 

This was to be her only and greatest task in life from then on out, and the rest of the village did whatever it took to ensure nothing would prevent her from carrying out her mission. From the day of her 18th birthday, she no longer was tasked with hunting, gathering, building, making clothes or weapons, tending to the children, fetching water, making fires, or any of the other routine tasks that kept the village running from day to day. 

Her entire life had changed in the blink of an eye, but despite the shock of the change, she knew her task was perhaps the most important of them all. Without memory, no human civilization could hope to survive, and if Ishigami Village really was the only human civilization left...

Thunder rumbled in the distance, the sky morphing from a bright blue to a light gray as clouds rolled in, thick and puffy, covering the sky like the strokes of a painter's brush. Venus was safe and secure inside her own private hut, with food and drink and blankets and candles and the great big book in front of her, old and weather-beaten through the years. The knowledge of writing was fading away, with only a few elders still remembering how to do such a thing, and with that knowledge fading, this was the only option to keep the knowledge of their noble founder alive. 

Byakuya was the man who was responsible for saving humanity from certain doom after the petrification. Now that task was entrusted to Venus, who would become the keeper of memories for all of Ishigami Village. Such a task was nothing to brush off, and the fear was more overwhelming than she wanted to admit to anyone else.

With shaking hands and a racing heart, Venus picked up the old book, very carefully to make sure not to damage the thin and yellowed pages. Even the art of making books was now lost, leaving Venus's task even more vital than before. This was the final chance to retain the most important knowledge of the human race, if this should fail...

Venus shook her head, willing those dark thoughts away. She would not fail. She could not fail. Humanity would not fall so easily. 

She opened the book and began reading. 

\----

Years passed, Venus did not marry, nor did she have children, concentrating solely on fulfilling her duty. Each day, she recited one of the tales to herself, a process that, when it was over 100 days later, she continued again, starting right at the beginning with the first tale. The book had worn away long ago, but years of doing nothing but reading it when she was alone had burned every word, every letter, every detail into her mind, spending days poring over every single page, focusing on nothing else but memorizing every single morsel of information that could be gleaned from those old, weather-worn pages. 

Time was of the essence, though, and as an old woman now, older than any of the village elders since the founding of the village itself, Venus knew time was running out. She had only a short window to finish teaching her student the hundred tales. As the first priestess of Ishigami Village, Venus understood the importance of this task was even more crucial than that of her last task-memorizing the hundred tales herself. Life was shorter these days than it had been in those heady days before the petrification that now seemed almost mythical. But they were no myth-and it was up to Venus to ensure that every future generation of villagers in Ishigami Village would understand that. 

She liked to think she had done a good job over the years. Every day, she told the girl who was her student one of the hundred tales until she had gone through all of them, and then, once that task was completed, Venus repeated each of the tales to the girl every single day, never missing a single day for anything. By now the girl had heard the tales dozens of times, if not more, and though the art of writing had faded away, Venus drew pictures, painted paintings of the hundred tales on the walls inside her hut, showing the girl those images every day. Crude and simple as they were, it was enough to convey the basic, bare-bones details, and every little bit helped. With the future of humanity at stake, no stone could be left unturned, no avenue for learning unexplored. Venus recited and sang and drew and painted and acted out the tales every day, throwing all her mind and strength into passing them down to her student. 

One day, after Venus's health began failing and she knew the end was near, she summoned her student to her hut. 

"Venus, it's me, Zinnia." Zinnia, the girl she had taught the hundred tales all these years, said, softly knocking on her door. 

Venus was bedridden now, spending most of her time lying down in the darkness of her hut, visited only by Zinnia and a few others who gave her food and drink and did what they could to comfort her in her last days. "Come in, my dear child." 

Venus could hardly speak above a whisper now, finding even getting up into a sitting position too difficult now. Zinnia knelt beside her bed, her eyes glued on the small, thin form of her teacher. Perhaps it was some kind of instinct that rendered words unnecessary, but both of them understood the nature of what was happening without any confusion. There wasn't much time left, so they had to make sure it counted. 

"Zinnia, I know I don't have much time left." Venus found speaking quite a struggle these days, so she rarely spoke. "I have one last request." Venus felt her chest ache as she struggled to take a breath, but continued. This precious time, however much of it was left, could not be wasted. 

"Of course, just tell me, I'll be here as long as you need me to." 

A warm smile spread across Venus's face, glad of her student's company in such a moment. Ishigami Village would not fall-the human race would not meet destruction. Venus was never one to brashly declare confidence in anything she did not believe was certain, but she had no doubts now. 

"Tell me the hundred tales." 

Zinnia, her faithful and quick-witted student, returned the smile with one of her own. "Of course. Shall I begin right now?" 

It was so cold now. The light itself seemed to be fading, and the world was not as bright and full of life as it has seemed, though Venus knew there was nothing wrong with the planet itself, only her own body. It was to be expected, though. She knew the end was coming. 

A nod was all that was necessary. As Zinnia began reciting the first of the hundred tales, Venus closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief and contentment as Zinnia pulled her blanket up to her chin, tucking it around her to make sure she was warm. Ishigami Village would survive. Venus took another breath. Humanity had survived the petrification. Humanity could survive whatever was to follow.


	5. Richard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An MMA fighter who fights a match against Tsukasa winds up in a very unusual place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, pre-canon, modern world, MMA fighting, no romance, no smut, moderate non-lethal violence.

Richard was pretty broke. 

Not like flat-out eat-ramen-every-day, dive-under-the-couch-to-look-for-change, and re-use sandwich bags type of broke, but he could have used more money. Those damn bills and mortgage payments didn't pay themselves, after all. Plus, as he discovered over the years, fighting was pretty fun. 

He never expected to end up in Japan fighting a high schooler but then again, he never expected to make it this far in the fighting world anyways. Boxing and martial arts had just been a hobby for him at first, something he did in between classes in college and then, when the job market tanked right as he graduated with a four year degree, he figured, what the hell? What could possibly go wrong? The money wasn't bad either. 

____

Did I hear that right?-The look of confusion on Richard's face when he heard over the loudspeakers that his opponent was a 17 year old high school student must have been pretty obvious, because his manager shot him a look before speaking. "I know it sounds weird, but Tsukasa Shishiou has never lost a fight yet. He may only be 17 but they don't call him the strongest high school primate for nothing." 

"Huh?-That's one hell of a nickname." Richard couldn't help but wonder if he was hallucinating things. Was he seriously gonna fight against some kid called the strongest high school primate? It seemed like something out of a reality show or one of those stupid WWE matches. 

Richard respected all forms of fighting and martial arts, but WWE didn't deserve to be classified in the same group in his opinion. All that shit was fake anyways. The memes with the folding chairs were pretty funny though. Sometimes.

"And facing off against Tsukasa Shishou, the strongest high school primate, is Richard Johnson, 35 years old, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA!" 

"That's you-go get 'em!" Robert, his manager, told him, giving him a friendly nudge on the shoulder. 

Oh, yeah-"Uh, right, I guess I'll get to it then." 

Man, I wonder what the prize money's like for this one. Richard wasn't feeling quite at the top of his game just then, finding it a little disconcerting that his opponent was only 17 and yet bore the moniker of "the strongest high school primate." It wouldn't do to get all wigged out now, though, he told himself, putting on his game face. No point in cramping your own style, after all. 

If Richard had been confused before, he was utterly perplexed now, finding himself incredibly baffled by what he saw. He was expecting a-well, not the man standing in front of him, that was for sure. Richard assumed the kid might be a bit taller than average and on the thinner side, perhaps with a lean swimmer's build, or short but stocky. He certainly hadn't been expecting a giant of a man, almost 7 feet tall and hardly any body fat to speak of. He put the most dramatic of Greek statues to shame, with a look on his face that made him appear closer to middle-aged than a high school kid. His hair was long and oddly glossy, a color somewhere between red and brown like dark blood, and eyes that appeared to be bottomless pits, bearing no expression at all, or nothing Richard could read, at least. 

Maybe this wasn't such a great idea-Feeling conflicted between fighting an underage kid and his fighter's instinct telling him he didn't have a chance in hell against this towering beast in front of him, Richard pushed his feelings back. He needed the money, after all. 

"You ready to do this?" Richard put on a tough face, but he was never overly aggressive or rude towards his opponents. It was all in good spirit, after all, and he bore none of them any ill will. Win or lose, he enjoyed what he did and he hoped they did as well. 

Tsukasa said nothing, giving Richard a short, curt nod. Though his expression was devoid of malice, the cold, blank quality of his eyes struck Richard as rather disconcerting. Whoever Tsukasa was, he seemed like a deeply unhappy person, as if he didn't really want to be there. Though Richard felt bad for him, he shoved it aside. He had to, of course. It was his job to give the audience a good show and that's exactly what he would do. 

"Alright, fighters, take your positions!" the referee shouted, both of them doing as they were told. 

"Whatever happens, no hard feelings, okay?" Richard didn't want to admit how bad the hollow, desolate look in Tsukasa's eyes made him feel, so he added a bit more enthusiasm to his statement than usual. Again, Tsukasa responded with a simple nod, devoid of any particular emotion. Poor kid-

Hardly 20 or 30 seconds had passed when Richard felt a cold, hollow feeling in his stomach. The air left his lungs the moment Tsukasa's fist made contact with his stomach, sending Richard crashing to the ground. Richard was no stranger to taking punishment from other fighters, and usually was able to take a pretty good beating before getting too worn out, but the strength behind Tsukasa's punch was otherworldly, almost inhuman. No human could punch that hard. No human could move that fast. 

And yet Tsukasa had, and with a single blow he knocked all the air out of Richard's lungs, causing him to cough up blood. 

"And we have a winner! The winner of the 7th match in the third round is Tsukasa Shishiou, the strongest high school primate! He now has a winning streak of 30 wins and no losses!" 

The referee held Tsukasa's hand, lifting his arm in the air alongside his own while some medics rushed towards Richard to carry him off the stage in a stretcher. 

With his eyesight failing and his stomach churning, it was all Richard could do to struggle to breathe, weakly sucking in a breath with as much strength as he could muster. 

____

That had been a mistake. Richard received a nominal cash prize for his participation, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to pay his bills. 

"This is terrible." Richard held his head in his hands as he looked over some papers explaining his mortgage payment for the month. "What am I gonna do?" 

The injury he had received from Tsukasa was pretty intense, but luckily the doctors at the nearest hospital were able to patch him up pretty good and within a month's time, he was able to function pretty close to normally, though he wondered how this would affect the rest of his fighting career. Never in his life had he taken like a punch like that before, or known anyone with that level of strength. 

Strongest high school primate indeed-the moniker made much more sense to him now. Sighing to himself as he walked outside to take the trash out, Richard looked up at the sky. That's kind of weird, he thought, noticing the strange green tint it held. Wonder if there's a tornado coming. 

Without warning, some kind of weird light started streaming from the sky, an odd hum in the air accompanying it as it rained down on the Earth. 

"Woah, what the fuck-" Richard didn't even have time to move when a car driving down the street crashed into him, its driver having just turned into stone, sending Richard flying into a large, sturdy oak tree with long, enormous branches winding and twisting in multiple directions. The last thing he remembered hearing before everything went dark was the sound of his own screams.


	6. Ryo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes a mishap can lead to an unexpected outcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, pre-canon, no romance, no smut, minor violence, coma, time skip, some humor, random and short, ham, large hams. 
> 
> (ham refers to the trope, not the food.) trope: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LargeHam

"Are you ready?" 

"Hell yeah, dude!" 

"Are you sure?" 

"Hell yeah!" 

"You really sure?" 

"Hell fucking yeah I am!" 

Ryo was as enthusiastic about his career as any human being could possibly be. He was also as enthusiastic about absolutely everything else in life as anyone could ever possibly be. Luckily for him, his manager was just as much of a loud, dramatic ham as he was. A more perfect match could not have been created anywhere in the entire universe. 

Today was the big day, it was Ryo's first time fighting in the world wide ultimate fighters championships, and he was pumped. Not just pumped, even. Super pumped. Mega pumped. Pumped beyond belief out of this entire universe pumped. He was just that hyped, and so was his manager. 

"Go out there and give them hell!" His manager slapped him on the back, wearing a grin that was so enormous it could have stretched across the entire galaxy even as tears of sheer unadulterated enthusiasm poured from his eyes. 

"Hell yeah!" Ryo pumped his fist in the air, his voice approximately the same decibel level as a gunshot before speeding onto the stage much faster than necessary 30 seconds before his name was even called. 

When he got there, he saw some really tall guy with long hair talking to a reporter with an enormous ass and a bunch of people shouting and cheering in the crowd. Had he paid more attention, he would have realized the extremely tall man with long hair was his opponent, but it didn't matter. Short, tall, fat, skinny, ugly, handsome, whatever his opponents were, he was hype to fight them. 

Oh boy, I can't wait-Ryo got into his signature fighting position before his opponent, who was now waving goodbye to the reporter he had finished his conversation with, was even on the stage, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet to burn off enough excited/nervous/otherwise miscellaneous energy before he leapt out of his own skin. I'm so pumped, this is gonna be a blast-

A blast it was, as the moment Ryo's first hit landed on his opponent, Ryo found himself flying through the air, the sky awash in a cornucopia of rainbow-colored beams of light and little floating candy canes and unicorns and gumdrops and rainbows. He was so happy, he wish he could keep on flying forever. 

Haha, this is great-I'm sailing away to a whole new world! And I'll find all sorts of interesting people to fight there, I bet! 

The idiot, who was now in a coma, might have been lying in a hospital bed with tubes stuck in him, but that did absolutely nothing to stop his mind from riding the crazy train it hopped on, laughing to himself the way only an over-excitable lunatic could, soaring through the astral plane like Sonic the Hedgehog on speed without a care in the world even as his physical body was stuck in the confines of a single hospital room and the rest of him was unable to process even the smallest amount of stimuli from the real world. 

"Hey, has he woken up yet?" A nurse who came to check on him a few days after his fight asked the doctor who was taking note of his vitals. 

"Unfortunately no, but somehow he's still stable. His condition hasn't deteriorated, yet no matter how hard we try, we just can't wake him up for some reason." 

"That's pretty weird." the nurse said, glancing at the man who was lying as still as a stone in the hospital bed. "I wonder if he has any family..." she wondered to herself. 

Something in the room seemed a little weird-maybe I ought to turn the lights down, the nurse thought, picking up a folder and searching through it for a specific paper. "Hey, doctor-" the words hardly had a chance to leave her mouth when she noticed the doctor was staring out the window at the strange green light that had suddenly filled the sky. "Doctor-"

An unusual light filled the sky, raining down on the world and spreading across its surface in mere seconds, giving nobody time to do anything at all before they found themselves paralyzed inside stone, frozen in place by the petrification. In a moment, a strange, unnatural silence filled the earth, every human being on its surface having turned into stone. 

_____

Life in the stone world was pretty quiet most of the time, something Tsukasa appreciated. After taking out Senku, the only man who could threaten to ruin his newfound peace and quiet, Tsukasa found himself able to hear himself think on a much more regular basis now, something he found that he enjoyed very much. Still, he did need more people for his empire, so unfortunately things would not always be quite this quiet. Oh well. 

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Tsukasa asked Minami, the small and clever reporter he had dug up and revived some time ago. Tsukasa couldn't be bothered to remember where every single useful person lived before the petrification, so reviving a reporter who seemed to know everybody and their brother proved to be a huge help. 

"Yeah, he should be somewhere around here." Minami reached to grab something, pausing a moment when she realized her dress had no pockets and she no longer had a cellphone. "Hopefully he's not buried too deep, otherwise we'll need to get some people to come back here later to dig him up." 

"Mm." Tsukasa made it a point to be pretty flexible about who to revive and when once he got a) a reporter who knew lots of people b) a small group of people who were trained in traditional forms of martial arts c) a few tiny flexible people who could crawl into tight spaces if necessary, and d) somebody who was good at manipulating people and had a more charismatic personality than he did. Tsukasa was many things, but none of those things involved being good with people. If other people were fish, Tsukasa was a bicycle, and he also kind of hated fish. But whatever. 

"Oh, wait, I think I found him-" The cheerful tone of Minami's voice soon faded away when she saw just where the person they were looking for was. Lodged against a sharp hunk of rock in such a way that he appeared to be part of the rock itself, the man they were looking for was positioned in a board-stiff manner, his arms hanging straight down on either side and his legs perfectly straight as well. "He's gonna fall out of there when we revive him, isn't he?" 

"Probably." Tsukasa went and dumped the revival fluid on him as soon as Minami handed it to him. "You remembered to bring some clothes for him, right?" 

"Yeah." 

Ryo, well-known around the world for being the loudest MMA fighter in existence, opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the same tall long-haired man who had knocked him out and sent him on a little trip to coma-land and the reporter with the enormous ass he had been talking to before their fight. Having absolutely no idea what was going on, he took the simplest route: After taking a quick glance at his surroundings and the people who had dragged his hyperactive ass out of a coma, he took a deep breath and did what he did best.

As soon as the man was revived, Tsukasa enjoyed a brief moment of calm and silence while the man looked around at his surroundings, that moment abruptly dying as the man let out an ear-blasting scream of joy. The joys of ruling an empire-Tsukasa grit his teeth, feeling his blood pressure rising. The things he did for humanity. 

"Alright, that's great, now put some clothes on." Tsukasa handed him the clothes Minami brought along, finding himself somewhat perturbed when the man stopped screaming just long enough to put his clothes on, making not a single sound while he did so, and then began screaming again. 

"Boy, he sure is full of enthusiasm." Minami adjusted the ribbon on her dress, making sure it wouldn't come loose. 

"The things I do for humanity..." Tsukasa's resolve and determination may have been rock solid, but his ability to deal with loud noises, not so much. All in a day's work, I suppose.


	7. Ares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are some things man was not meant to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mature rating, implied rape/non-con, no romance, no romantic relationships, implied sexual content, horror, canon-typical violence.

The master always had his reasons. 

This was a lesson every man, woman, and child on Treasure Island had been taught from the time they were old enough to talk, a lesson that was continuously drilled into their heads day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. One did not question the will of the master. It was simply not done. Ever.

Ares, a proud, noble warrior of Treasure Island, who stood at six feet tall and weighed a good 200 lbs. of mostly muscle, understood this as well as anyone. He kept his mouth shut and did what he was told, all to bring honor and pride to his nation and his people. Or, at least, that was what he intended to do. 

It had been a mistake, really. He never meant to get drunk that night. He never meant to wander off a little too far into the woods, holding an empty bottle and his spear. With nothing on his back but the sweat that soaked the rest of his skin, he wandered around trying to find his way home. It was all an accident, truly. After a long day of training, he had a few drinks with some of his fellow warriors, a common enough pastime among the people of Treasure Island. Nothing wrong with kicking back and relaxing for a while, right? 

It all started when the sun sank below the horizon, the brilliant hues of peach and orange, blush and salmon, fire and blood, painting the sky like an exquisite tapestry in those magical, serene moments before darkness swallowed it up, replacing the bright, bold colors with the twinkles of millions of tiny little stars, and the soft, calming glow of the moon several hours later. 

"Hey, remember what happened that one time? We were just starting out then, those were some pretty wild times!" 

"Yeah, that was some crazy shit, man. Crazy, crazy shit." 

After a few drinks (or maybe more than a few,) Ares let himself fall to the ground, stretching his legs out as he lied back, gazing up at the stars. There was a time, or so he was told, where the light of the stars was obscured by the glow of untold numbers of artificial lights as far as the eye could see, a time where the hum and buzz of man-made machines filled the air at all hours of the day and night, where life moved at a pace faster than a blink of an eye, a time where man, not nature, ruled the world. Or so they believed. But man grew proud, and too much pride was just as bad as not enough, and man's hubris brought about the end of that age, ushering a new era, and one after that, and so on and so forth until the small but robust society of Treasure Island clawed its way into existence, occupying the warm sub-tropical island they called home. 

What did it all mean, he wondered? What did those strange people of the past, those who lived not in harmony with nature but eternally fighting it, really desire? What did they think about? What did they dream about at night, if they dreamt at all? What were their hopes, their fears, their greatest wishes? What enemies did they face, and how did they do battle against them? 

On Treasure Island, few people speculated openly about what happened in the past, in the before-times when machines held dominion over nature, however fragile that dominion might have been. Ares wasn't the philosophical type when he was sober, but as the wheels turned in his mind, competing with the clamor of his fellow warriors drinking and talking and shouting and singing for his attention, more and more questions were raised, questions that he realized he had no answer to. 

"You know what, man?" One of his fellow warriors told someone after taking a long swig of wine. 

"What, dude?" 

"That's crazy as shit, that's what it is. Crazy. Most ridiculous bullshit I heard all day!" 

Aquarius, his name was, if Ares remembered correctly, though the alcohol was starting to have an effect on his basic memory. He was shouting up a storm now, a few other warriors surrounding him as he went on his little ranting spree. "It's absolutely outrageous and it's about time someone do something about it!" 

Ares, despite his namesake, was not one for starting unnecessary conflict. He kept his head down, his mouth shut, and did what he was told, nothing more, nothing less. Perhaps now was a good time to head back home, get some sleep for the night. He had only good intentions when he stumbled away from the little gathering, clutching his spear as close as he clutched the empty bottle of alcohol that, up until recently, he felt might as well have had his name on it. Now, he thought, he drank a little too much and it would be wise to try to sleep it off. 

He did not live far, so heading home should be an easy task. Yet sometimes even the most routine matters got a little out of hand on Treasure Island, and even if he lived in one of the safer areas of the island, a true warrior of Treasure Island always knew it was wise to be alert for hidden dangers that could be lurking in any corner. Nature was a cruel and harsh mistress, and she did not take kindly to those who failed to heed her rules. 

And perhaps just as frightening as nature herself, if not more so, was Ibara, the towering, tattooed minister who wore a grin like that of a Cheshire Cat, though not many people knew what a Cheshire Cat was anymore. The look in his eyes gave Ares nightmares when he was younger-perhaps he had truly been wiser back then, he thought to himself as he stumbled through the woods. 

He thought he had been going in the right direction. Really, he wouldn't lie about something like that. But that wouldn't save him. Nothing would save him if-if-

All it took was one wrong turn. Just a single wrong turn, and Ares found himself face to face with a sight he never imagined he would see, a sight he never could have even imagined was real, was possible, was genuine. Yet as much as the proud, noble warrior of Treasure Island, one who served the master without question, took pride in his nation, his people, the sight in front of him caused a cold, hollow pit to form in his stomach, one that could not be explained away by the alcohol, one that reminded him just how twisted and unnatural the series of events he witnessed really was. 

"No, no, please-I promise I won't tell anyone!' a girl, a slender little thing, couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 despite Ibara's insistence otherwise-despite his insistence that only girls 18 or older were chosen for the master's harem, sobbed, her face red and puffy from tears, her dress torn as if by some huge, wild beast. "Please don't do this, I promise-I promise-" 

Ares never concerned himself with sex-he carried out his duties as a warrior, and as long as he could prove useful in battle and find some entertainment along the way, that was enough for him. He couldn't help but be transfixed by the girl, though, if not in anything else besides sheer horror. Perhaps that was why he blandly and objectively decided she seemed good-looking. The people of Treasure Island were all strong and healthy looking for the most part, and Ares prided himself on keeping a well-maintained physique. It gave him something to do and helped him be more useful as a warrior, and acknowledging the girl's pleasant appearance was a tactic his brain cooked up to try to distract him from the horror of what he was seeing. 

"You're an intelligent young lady, Senna." Minister Ibara's voice was rough and gravelly, almost inhuman. Fitting, given his intimidating appearance. "I'm sure you remember the rules. You wouldn't go and break the rules now, would you?" 

Ares was ashamed-more of himself than anything else. He was supposed to be a proud, strong, brave warrior of his people. Yet his feet did not move, he could hardly even make a sound, he was frozen in fear, a fear so thick and black it felt like a weight of ten billion pounds crushing him, suffocating him to death. Every muscle in his impressive body tightened, tensing up like a spring being coiled, primed for a release that would never come. He could do nothing but remain as still as a statue as Ibara stalked towards the young harem girl like a lion hunting down an antelope. Like predator and prey-Ibara looked like nothing so much as a predator, a mighty, ferocious beast, something not quite human yet with a human's face. 

"No, no, no, I didn't-I didn't do anything, I swear-I'm sorry, I-" 

Ares felt his heart drop into his stomach and his stomach drop to his feet as Ibara wrapped his talons around the girl's face-no one should have fingers like that, Ares thought, yet Ibara did. Nobody should be as tall as he was, and yet he was. Nobody should be so old-even in his grandfather's father's time, people spoke of Ibara and feared him, more than any other man. And yet he was. Nobody should have such black eyes, eyes lit up by a light so strange, so unnatural that it hardly made sense, that it made one dizzy to look into them too long. And yet he did. 

"No lying." Ibara's voice was more of a hiss, like one of a snake, than that of a human. 

The air in his lungs felt cold, too cold. Ares clapped a hand over his mouth as he swallowed so hard, it hurt, having long forgotten that he had dropped the bottle in his hand some time ago. He would not let this fear consume him. He knew it was wrong to question what the master did, or by extension, what Minister Ibara did. But this was wrong. Wrong in so many ways-

The girl's dress was torn enough that Ares could see most of her exposed body underneath, a small, delicate body covered in bruises and bite marks, as if she were savaged by some sort of wild animal. A thin trail of blood trickling down her leg made Ares's stomach turn, and he spun around to retch in some bushes. Shaking, with tears in his eyes and sweat on his skin as he was on his hands and knees, Ares felt like nothing so much as a leaf on a tree in the middle of a storm, about to be plucked off the branch by the sheer force of the wind and rain. 

"Lying is a great offense. A treasonous offense." Ibara lifted the girl off her feet, holding her up at eye-level. Ares turned around just in time to see Ibara lick the salty tears off her face with an unnaturally long tongue. 

"No no no no no please, please, don't-" the girl sobbed, but it was too late. 

"A shame, really. But rule-breakers must be punished." 

The moment Ibara raised his other hand to impale the girl, Ares rushed out of the bushes, stumbling blindly towards the minister with his spear. "Let her go!" 

Ibara's eyes glowed with a light so cold and piercing that Ares felt it in his stomach, all of the heat in his body escaping in a single breath. With a single swing of his arm, Ibara knocked Ares to the ground, letting go of the girl a split-second before stabbing her with his talons so lightning-fast that she didn't even have time to hit the ground first. 

"It's getting late." Ibara remarked, the dead girl suspended in mid-air by his thick, sharp talons. Ares tried to swallow, only to discover he had no more saliva left. "You should go to sleep." 

With a knife-like pain, Ares felt a sudden snap of cold, icier than all the rest, and then saw nothing but black. 

Reigning over the noble civilization of Treasure Island was no easy task, but Ibara did not let that stop him. Nothing would get in his way. Nothing at all-no interlopers or rule-breakers, no matter how strong or how delicious they might have been, would hinder his plans. He dumped the corpses in the ocean, tossing them both in one after the other, staring down the side of the cliff as the two bodies disappeared under the water. 

Such a silly people they were, his subjects. Silly little creatures with silly little ambitions and silly little plans and schemes. Ibara would not let them stop him. None of their kind could stop him. In due time, all of the world, or whatever was left of it would be his. That he was certain of. And one day, he would succeed, and the world would be re-made in accordance to his will. He turned, walking back to his own private dwelling, high in the trees, in the best and most luxurious tree-house on the island. That he was certain of too.


	8. Yui

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young woman hoping to start a family finds that even dreams she didn't know she had can come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, male/female romance, marriage, pregnancy, fluff, romance, soft and sweet. 
> 
> (Consider this a breather from the mood of last chapter if you've been reading these in order.)

Life in Ishigami Village was quiet most of the time, though not without its struggles. They were a small village, almost never reaching a population of more than one or two hundred people at the very most. Yui found it sad. She enjoyed spending time with her family and friends, but she wished their village would grow. Every day she thought about it, and as soon as she was old enough, she decided that the best thing to do would be to find a way to fix this problem herself. 

That was one of the reasons why, on the summer after her 18th birthday, she asked her childhood sweetheart and best friend Hiro, a sweet, caring young man who was two years her senior, to marry her. It wasn't exactly common for women to propose to men, but Yui didn't want to wait. Life could be short-too short, and she wanted to make the most of it. And who better to spend it with than her best friend in the entire world? 

Hiro said yes, of course, and the two had a small but festive wedding, all 70 or so of the members of Ishigami Village celebrating in their honor for an entire day. This would be the start of a new beginning. She felt it in her bones, and her bones never lied. Their tiny little village, cut off from the rest of the world, was a lovely little place, really, but Yui wanted to share the joy. She dreamt of sharing the wonderful spirit of Ishigami village with more people-far more people-than had ever been a part of their village before. And in order to do that, they would need to find some way to contact the outside world. Some way to discover whether or not there were other people out there, people beyond their village. 

In order to do that, a literal bridge would have to be built, or re-built, rather. The bridge that led to their village was falling into disrepair but Yui lacked the knowledge how to re-build it and Hiro wasn't able-bodied and couldn't perform the task himself. But one thing that might help a little, something that might grow their village a little more, that was something she could do. Not right away, perhaps, and perhaps not even for many years, but she would try. One thing she shared in common with her beloved husband was their love of children. They both agreed on having as many as they could, and both of them swore to do whatever it took to help those children grow up happy and healthy. 

It was only a few years later, however, that Yui began to fear that she might not accomplish her goal after all. Getting pregnant wasn't that hard-being pregnant, however, was. 

"Honey, what's wrong?" Hiro asked her, rubbing her back while she cried. She was lying on their bed, holding her stomach with one hand as tears ran down her face. 

"I-" Yui struggled to choke back a sob. Hiro was such a kind, patient husband, the most loving man she could ever hope to know. He didn't deserve this. "I-I'm just tired." 

Yui was looking forward to the birth of their first child just as much as Hiro, if not more so. But pregnancy was no leisurely stroll along the seaside. It hurt, and it was exhausting and uncomfortable and made her feet hurt and her body feel as heavy as a boulder and she just wanted it to be over with as soon as possible. 

"Shh, it's okay, just try and rest." Hiro stroked her long brown hair in his gentle hands-she always loved his hands, soft and gentle just like him. "Carrying a child is hard work. You just worry about taking care of yourself, I'll be fine." 

Hiro was born with one leg being a bit shorter than the other, and he had to use a pair of crutches to walk around, but he managed to help out by cooking and cleaning and sewing baskets and fishing nets-he made the best nets in the entire village, something all the fishermen praised him for time and time again. Yui loved her sweet husband so much and she didn't want to be a burden to him, but sometimes the difficulties of her condition felt like too much to handle. 

"Hiro." Yui kissed his forehead. "My sweet Hiro. I don't know what I did to deserve you." 

"Don't be silly, Yui, you're my best friend. I just want you to be happy. I know you'll be a great mother, and I know I can't wait to be a father." 

____

Three months later, about a week or so before her expected due date, Yui felt a wave of pain shoot through her stomach, dropping the bowl she was holding and clutching her stomach in pain. 

"Yui?" Hiro dropped his crutches and crawled over to her on the ground, holding her in his arms. 

"It's the baby. I think it's coming." 

Within minutes, a midwife was boiling water and laying out fresh cloths, giving Yui something to bite down on for the pain. 

"I know it's scary, but I know you can do it." Niko, the midwife, reassured her. "Don't you worry about a thing, you'll do just fine." 

With sweat dripping down her body and her heart racing a mile a minute, Yui pushed. And pushed. And pushed. Pushed through the pain, pushed through the sweat, pushed through the dizziness and the aching muscles and the pounding headache and all the rest of it, pushing with all her might because that was all she could do and so she would give it nothing less than her absolute best. 

Some hours later, after plenty of pain,blood, sweat, and tears, Yui held a small but healthy looking baby boy in her arms, gazing down at him with a sense of adoration that was entirely new and foreign to her, something more outstanding and all-encompassing than anything she had ever felt in her life. 

"He's perfect." Hiro kissed Yui's forehead, closing his eyes while he did so. "A sweet, wonderful, perfect little boy." 

"He is." Yui could hardly talk thanks to the tears running down her face, but it didn't matter. 

The question of what to name him was one they had discussed many times over the last few months. Hiro was more indecisive than his wife, so in the end, he left it up to her. It hardly felt real, but here she was, holding her son in her arms, and everything felt beautiful and perfect and the tears-the tears just wouldn't stop coming, at least for a while. 

But all things must come to an end, and eventually the tears did, just as all other things do. 

"My beautiful son." Hiro gently pet the boy's head, gazing down at him with the same adoration his wife was. 

"I think I know now. What to name him, that is." Yui was a little more rested now, after the midwife cleaned up her and her son, replacing the old, dirty cloths with more fresh cloths, giving Yui a soft blanket and some water to sip on. Yui took one more moment, one more moment to gaze down at her beautiful boy, her pride and joy. Clearing her throat, she decided it was time. "Kaseki. That's the name I want to give him." Yui kissed her son once more before kissing her husband. 

"I think that's a perfect name." Hiro replied, brushing some of Yui's damp, sweaty hair out of her face. "A perfect name for a perfect child." 

Yui caught the faintest glimpse of the sun shining through a small crack in the window, which was covered by a tattered old cloth. As sore and tired as she was, Yui knew what she felt in her bones just then was nothing less than the truth, the whole, perfect, honest truth. Today marked a day that would change the future of Ishigami Village forever. Today was worth it, no matter the struggles and hardships she endured to reach it. Today was a good day, and she knew just as certainly as she knew the sun rose every morning, that what happened today would make all the days to come even better.


	9. Hikaru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, no romance, no sex, pre-petrification, academic problems, dumpster diving, crack, some humor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the equivalent of a shitpost fic.

Some people got good grades in all their classes, earning them praise from their teachers and peers alike. Some of those people even studied hard for their good grades. And some of those people even went on to achieve success in their chosen career field, landing into lucrative jobs that net them a healthy income with which to support themselves or a family on. 

Hikaru was not one of those people.

"Oh no, here we go." Hikaru knew exactly what it meant when the teacher placed his test face-down while passing out everyone's tests back to them. 

Upon turning the paper over, Hikaru braced himself, wearing an ugly grimace on his face. Oh, fuck, not again-Hikaru's eyes briefly darted around the room like a frightened antelope in the African Savannah being hunted down by a hungry lion, but nobody was paying any attention to him, because they were all going nuts over how Senku Ishigami, the smartest student in the entire high school, had gotten a perfect score yet again,

How the fuck is it even possible-unlike his classmates, Hikaru wasn't fawning over the lettuce-haired teen-aged prodigy who he somehow ended up in the same class with. No, he was staring down at his own test, having received a score of zero despite filling in every answer. The high school they went to would have been known as having the highest grade point average in the entire country-maybe even the world, all because of Senku Ishigami. But it wasn't, because Hikaru's miserable grades knocked down the average of their high school to a solid mediocre range. Even Taiji Ooki, a fellow student known for having more muscle and stamina than intellectual ability (Taiju could also lift a 50 lb. dumbbell in one hand without breaking a sweat,) couldn't compare to the absolute, abysmal magnitude of Hikaru's academic failure. 

Well, good for him-Hikaru didn't resent Senku. He was a little jealous, maybe, but not resentful. All Hikaru wanted was to get the hell out of high school before anyone realized how many times he had been held back. What Senku did-or didn't-do wasn't his problem, even if he sometimes found weird things in the science lab that had no business being inside a high school science lab-or anywhere inside a high school, for that matter. And if sometimes there were strange scratching noises in the ceiling or the water pipes rattled in a suspicious kind of way once in a while, Hikaru figured that some person called "somebody else" could worry about that. With his limited mental capacity, he had to save it on the important things, like making sure he didn't crash into a tree while trying to walk and chew gum at the same time. 

Besides, it's not like I can embarrass myself any more, Hikaru reasoned, taking a walk on his way home from school after the day ended. He knew he'd never make it into college at this rate, but he figured somebody had to pick up garbage or clean toilets or deliver packages or something. Society was pretty simple, in a way. Some people did some stuff, and other people did other stuff, and somehow people just kind of got by, producing more and more people as time went on, which led to those other people making even more people, and then the city got all crowded and shit. 

There sure are a lot of us wandering around-Hikaru always paid attention to where he was going, because otherwise he would end up in the middle of traffic or trip and fall into a garbage can or something. 

"Hey, move your ass!" Somebody on a motorcycle yelled at him when the crosswalk light changed. 

Oh shit-alright, you're almost home, you got this, Hikaru reminded himself-only 2 more blocks. Or three. Wait a minute-

Just as Hikaru pulled out his cellphone to check the GPS app, a strange green light blocked out the sky, a light so bright it hurt to look at. 

"I said watch where you drag around that fat ass of yours, loser!" 

Before Hikaru had a chance to register any useful information about what was going on, he found himself flying through the air, crashing into a dumpster full of garbage. It was only after he heard some people gasp in shock and some impolite laughter than he realized that, upon being hit by the guy in the motorcycle, flying through the air, and landing into the dumpster, his belt got caught on something, resulting in his pants falling off. 

Dammit, where'd they go-Hikaru, standing there in the dumpster searching for his pants (or at least something to cover up his hand-me-down tighty-whities,) hardly noticed the people in the crowd start to scream as they were turned into stone. 

Oh, sweet, I think those are my pants-Hikaru, happy as he was in his final moments, never had time to put his pants on before turning into stone like the rest of the population, his last moments in the world having been spent rooting around a dumpster in his underwear looking for his pants. For a moment, perhaps a few seconds before he lost consciousness, the green light shone, brighter than anything he had ever seen before. It was utterly beautiful. So beautiful, he figured there was only one explanation for it. 

I must be dreaming-and dream he did, although he was, in fact, not in his dreams but in the real world. Well, if this is a dream, all I have to do is wait to wake up. Yeah, sounds like a plan. He slapped his own face with both hands, the last thing he would do before making one final dive into the pile of trash to find his pants. Dreams sure are crazy.


	10. Kai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mature rating, no romance, no sex, canon-typical violence, original character death, post-petrification, pre-canon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small slice of angst and horror mixed together, to provide a contrast to the last chapter. I got to thinking about how Ishigami Village decided to deal with villagers who break laws or hurt other people and given that it's canon that rule-breakers are banished, I started wondering how that came about and that's how this chapter happened.

Kai knew it was wrong, what he did. Anyone would. Anyone would also understand why he did it though. Or so he thought. 

He never planned to kill Hiroshi, the strongest man in the village, and he never planned to kill Lia, his own wife either. It all happened so fast. One moment, he was heading back home after a hard day's work, not suspecting a thing, the next, he opened the door to his simple one-room hut, finding his wife in bed with the strongest man in the village. 

Kai didn't remember how he did it. Perhaps he was too blind with rage. A red hot anger flooded him, coursing through his veins and blocking his vision against everything else. All he saw was red-swaths of nothing but heated, boiling crimson, his heartbeat pounding in tune with his head, right behind his eyes, as the rage washed through him like so many waves crashing against the seashore. When he looked down again, his eyes finally clear, all he saw was red-more red, more blood, and the sight of his wife and the man she cheated on him with lying dead on the dirt floor of his hut. 

Ryu, the village chief, was burdened with what would be the first of several hard decisions Ishigami Village would have to make over the course of its history. Until then, everyone in the village had lived peacefully with each other. There had been quarrels, sure, but no one had purposely set out to harm another, and nobody had ever deliberately ended another villager's life before. The law was not as clear as it had been in the days before the petrification, but nevertheless there was precedent enough in The Hundred Tales to acknowledge that some people were simply unfit to live within Ishigami Village. 

Kai had never considered himself a violent man before, not until that day, and especially not until Ryu laid out his punishment for him in no uncertain terms. 

"Banished?" Kai could hardly believe what he heard. Surely, he thought, someone would understand. His side of the story was rather cut and dry as all things were considered. Killing a man who had wronged you and then killing your own wife for her betrayal. Kai never believed his wife would do such a thing to him, so when he discovered the truth, it had been too much for him to handle. "But-how-why? It's not fair!" 

Ryu wore an intimidating scowl on his face. It was a rare occasion indeed that anyone objected to the chief's commands, and rarer still for anyone to convince the chief to change his mind about anything. He was a stubborn old man through and through, and old men were not so common as they were before the petrification. "You know full well what you did was wrong. There is no excuse for killing another member of the village for any reason other than self-defense, the law is clear. If we allow room for one exception, the slope towards degeneracy and immorality will be slippery indeed." 

Kai had never been particularly fond of the old chief but he had never hated him, either, not until this day, at least. 

"My word is final. Kon, Ren, take him away." Kei didn't resist when the chief summoned two of the top warriors of Ishigami Village grabbed hold of him, one grabbing each arm as they led him outside of the village. 

Kei could hardly believe it. There was nothing left for him-outside the village, there was nothing but death. That law was firmly etched into the minds of every man, woman, and child of Ishigami Village. Byakuya, the founder of Ishigami Village, had always preached pacifism, and thus Kei was not too surprised in the end that he had not been violently murdered for what he did, or that he was punished for hit, as much as part of him was still in denial about what happened. Part of him wanted to believe it was all a bad dream, some twisted phantom of his imagination, some evil trick cooked up by his stressed, overworked mind. 

It's cold-The chill in the air, though it was far from the only danger out here in the wild, was the most obvious sign of Kei's impending fate. He knew Ryu hadn't cast him out of the village out of the kindness of his heart. The old chief was not as gentle and peaceful as the founder of Ishigami Village, not by a long shot. But wanton bloodshed would lead to nothing but ruin for the tiny, struggling little village. Such violence would stain the memory of the legendary founder of Ishigami Village. Murderers could not live inside the village, of course, that, too, would go against what the noble founder of the village would want. So a less direct solution was in order. 

They must know this will kill me-Kei knew deep in his bones, shivering in the cold autumn air, with nothing but the clothes on his back and a single pocket-sized knife, that he had not been expelled from the village because the chief wanted him to take some time to think about what he had done. He was thrown out for one reason and one reason only, and with that knowledge firmly implanted in his brain, as it had been from birth, Kei knew what was coming. Sooner or later, usually sooner, his ultimate fate would come for him before his time. It was cold outside, as cold as any brisk autumn day as the last leaves on the trees began to fall away, withering into nothing, but Kei knew that wasn't the only reason he felt so cold.

Stumbling through the forest, lost, confused, and still reeling from the high his blood-soaked rage had given him hours earlier, Kei could smell it in the air, feel it in his bones, taste it on his tongue, as harsh and biting as the dark red liquid that soaked into the dirt floor of his hut mere hours ago. There was no way he could find food, water, and shelter quickly enough to survive, not with his lack of equipment, and his clothes were nowhere near suitable for the sudden drop in temperature that would occur come nightfall. The last growing season had been a bad one, filled with drought and locusts, and the village had a rather poor harvest that year. There would be no food-nothing enough to sustain himself on-for an untold number of miles. 

As mid-afternoon turned to dusk and the sun's glow morphed from a soft yellow to an angry orange, the wind picking up by some several kilometers per hour, a brisk breeze changing into a strong gale, Kei didn't bother to waste his time thinking about his cheating wife or the asshole she slept with. They were both dead and rotting in the ground now, and he knew he would soon follow. Or so he imagined. 

A rustle in the bushes was the only thing that caught his notice besides the harsh, blustering wind, but Kei ignored it. Only when he heard it a second time did he turn to look. Seeing nothing, he wondered if perhaps he was hearing things. He had been given no water, no food, nothing but the small knife he had in his pocket. It wouldn't be long now. 

Aside from occasional arguments, Kei had a happy marriage with his wife-happy enough, at least until he found her cheating on him. Kei was never the type who insisted on being right all the time. In fact, sometimes he kind of hated being right. There were times when it meant something bad had happened, and he hated that most of all. But that was over now. His marriage was dead, his wife was dead, and soon he would be too, at least if the gods were kind to him. He did not expect them to show mercy, but he hoped for it anyways. 

The third rustle in the bushes was what frightened him, the air suddenly seeming to grow quiet-too quiet given the blustering wind-and the shadow Kei saw told him everything he needed to know. 

"Shit, what is-what is that?" 

By the time Kei saw what it was-it looked familiar, though he had never seen it before-its strong muscles, primed for attack, its flowing golden mane, its eyes a shade somewhere between orange and brown. He did not know what to call it, but he knew it was nothing good. 

"No, dammit, not my knife!" Kei felt his stomach tighten as he saw his knife slip out of his pocket, the massive, terrifying beast lunging towards him even as he was running away. Whatever it was, it was aggressive, that much was beyond dispute. 

Kei knew it was a stupid idea, that had never been in doubt. But maybe-no. He grit his teeth together, his eyes narrowing in determination. He had to try, didn't he? 

Didn't he? 

Kei felt a cold pit gather in his stomach, sweat dripping down his back all of a sudden as he saw the looming shadow over him, the beast's huge, fearsome jaws wide open, filled with sharp, rough-looking fangs. 

No, I can't-not now, why now, please, somebody help-as much as Kei wanted to yell for help, he knew none was coming, and it was in that same moment, as he stared into the jaws that seemed to grow larger and larger by the second, his blood ran cold, colder than ice, colder than death. 

First, a piercing scream filled the forest, though no one was close enough to hear it. Pain, a flash of pain, greater than anything he had ever known, shut down all his senses after a moment of clawing, overwhelming agony. Then, the true meaning of cold was made perfectly clear to the unfortunate former inhabitant of Ishigami Village. 

I'm so cold-Perhaps it was irony. Or perhaps it was fate. Either way, he found it fitting that his last thought after being banished was the same as the first thought he had after being banished. 

Cold, and then, nothing.


	11. Copper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hapless villager from Ishigami Village gets lost one day and finds something beyond his wildest imagination in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, no romance, no sex, no smut, pre-canon, wilderness survival, horror elements, getting lost, being lost, reference to manga events, manga spoilers.

It was cold. 

Sure, it was cold every winter. Copper was no spry young man anymore. He was almost 40 now, which was getting up there in terms of the population of Ishigami Village. There was a reason people said life was shorter now than it used to be. Not like it used to be. That was what everyone said, though of course Carbon could only take their word for it, as all they had to go on was the memories and stories of the previous generations. Things got hazier over time like a game of telephone gone wrong and in the end, all Ishigami Village had was The Hundred Tales and whatever other bits and pieces of information they could recall from the past. 

But it felt extra cold today. Probably because he had been lost for quite a while, but knowing the reason behind it didn't help him feel any warmer. The dense, thick forest near Ishigami Village was as far as anyone knew an ordinary forest. There were trees, bushes, and animals, the same sorts of things one would expect to find in any forest. None of that made Copper feel any better. And why would it, he reasoned, trudging on in hopes of at least finding food and shelter if he couldn't make his way back to the village by nightfall. Nature was a harsh mistress, caring nothing for the feelings and desires of those living beings that resided in her domain. No being that walked on the surface of the Earth could hope to conquer nature, after all. 

One could co-exist with nature, one could carve out a niche on some small patch of land and eke out a simple existence, one could make tools and weapons to help them secure the resources they needed to survive-all of these things were, at least in theory if not always practice, possible. Humanity's previous exploits had proven as much, not that it did Copper any good now. It was getting colder. He knew what that meant. 

Nature cared nothing for the arbitrary way humans labeled different phases and seasons, or how they accounted for the passage of time. Still, winter was the most dangerous season for a reason. In winter, where plants stopped growing and the wind grew harsher and more bitter, where the very air hurt to breathe for how it cut at one's lungs like a knife, death was closer than in all the rest of the seasons combined. The natives of Ishigami Village lacked what their predecessors had, being forced to live with a sharply reduced variety of technology than the old ones who lived in the old days had. 

Copper knew that Byakuya Ishigami, the famed founder of the village he had called home all his life, had faith that humanity would be able to return to its former glory someday. Copper knew better than to discount that possibility. After all, despite everything-the storms, droughts, crop failures, floods, and other myriad disasters that had struck Ishigami Village over the course of its existence, humanity lived on. And if humanity could suffer through all of that, then certainly returning to relative peace and prosperity would not be such a ridiculous thing to hope for. 

It was so cold, though. A cold that seeped into his bones, making them ache as if he had walked a million miles when in reality it couldn't have been more than 10 or perhaps 20 at the very most. He knew he needed to find food and shelter, and fast. The days were shorter now. Shorter days meant longer nights, and longer nights meant...

Copper shook his head. No need to borrow the troubles of the future, for the future would arrive soon enough. The sun was still out, but it wouldn't remain high in the sky for long. The forest looked unfamiliar, as it had several hours ago. Copper knew what it meant, and he didn't like it, not one bit. If he failed to find food or shelter soon, he knew what would soon follow. It was so cold. 

As he carried on in search of what he needed to sustain his life, hopefully long enough to allow him to find his way back to the village, his mind drifted back to the many different events and things he had witnessed in his life. The births, deaths, children growing up, the same children, now adults, getting married and having children of their own. The good times and the bad, the boring days and the exciting ones, the dull times and the chaotic times, all of these he dwelled on as if his life depended on it, so as not to sink into the gaping maw of despair and lose his will to continue. His feet hurt and his legs were sore, his stomach empty and his mouth dry, but some part of him wasn't ready to give up yet, he knew it was not quite the end. 

What exactly it was that drove him onward he couldn't say. He never discovered the answer to that, but after crossing a stream and descending down a gently sloping hill, stepping over a short but dense thicket of bushes, Copper saw something in the distance. A light, perhaps, or at least something that shone as brightly as one-not quite as bright as the sun itself, but brilliant all the same, the light drawing him closer like a moth to a flame. 

Unable to stem the tide of his curiosity, Copper made his way closer and closer, his eyes widening as the light grew brighter, its glow calling him as if to beckon him home, like he was a long-lost family member returning from an extended time being away. What was this massive light, so bright and brilliant, glowing with a calm, peaceful radiance that was as soothing as a clear, cloudless sky on a perfect summer day, as picture-perfect as a perfectly preserved image from the old times, back when humanity thought it possible to bend nature to its will. 

Once more, Copper made a single turn, a bit to the left, finding that the light was so very bright now, brighter than anything he remembered seeing except for the sun itself. Descending down another gently sloping hill, this one smaller than the last, though, Copper caught sight of a mountain. And what an unusual mountain it was. Blinking a few times, unable to comprehend exactly what he was looking at, Copper glanced around, his eyes darting every which way in surprise and awe of what he saw. 

Like some shining, glittering mountain, Copper found himself standing right in front of a pile of small, shiny silver objects. This mountain, whatever it was, was clearly not something of natural origin, but neither did it seem man-made. It was still cold outside, but for a moment, gazing upon the eerie, unusual beauty of the sight in front of him, Copper forgot about all that, taking no notice of the fact that he could see his own breath come out in little puffs as he exhaled, or that his nose felt cold and he no longer noticed the pain in his feet quite as much as before. 

Driven by some peculiar, extraordinary curiosity, Copper reached out to touch one of the shining, shimmering objects he saw on that mighty hill, taller than the tallest building ever built in any of recorded human history a hundred times over, so tall it almost seemed to reach to the heavens. He could not have known what he was looking at, for if he did, he would not have touched it, or even gotten so close to it. 

But it wasn't curiosity that killed the cat. No, that was a common misunderstanding. It was a lack of knowledge, not the desire for knowledge, that ultimately brought humanity to its knees the first time around. Copper was aware of that, but even so, he was still only a human, and without knowing what he was touching, he could not have predicted what would happen. Just as well, for if he did-

It didn't matter anymore. He no longer had time to think about it, as his fingers pressed against some part of the object that escaped his sight, some little piece of the tiny device that only a trained eye would have spotted, and everything went dark. 

Ten thousand meters one second. 

In his last moments, Copper heard a voice. It was not his own. Where did it come from? 

He never received an answer to that question. He knew one thing, though. 

It was cold. 

Cold, and then dark.


	12. Kaito

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> teen rating, no sex, no smut, takes place during canon, awkwardness, minor canon characters, post-petrification, love confession, not serious, some humor.

This was it. This was the big day, the one Kaito had been waiting for. For months, he had pined after her, the greatest beauty Treasure Island had ever boasted. 

Kaito was never known for possessing a stellar intellect, but even he wasn't stupid enough to assume it would be easy. Everyone and their brother was completely and utterly awe-struck by the great beauty and charm of Amaryllis. This would be the most difficult task Kaito ever tackled in his life, but by God (and whatever else existed out there in the universe,) he was gonna try. Nothing would stop him, even if he wasn't the strongest or the smartest or the most cunning. 

He knew damn well that unless he tried, he would never be able to rest, knowing that he had never made an attempt to fulfill his greatest wish, the regret would destroy him. He didn't have much to work with-this really kind of sucks, he thought, staring into the slightly dirty mirror in his room one boring day-but dammit, what choice did he have? 

"Ahhh! Something's eating me! Stop, I'm not nutritious!"-With a piercing scream, Kaito leapt butt naked into a pond near his house-the water was cold and a piece of seaweed got caught on his leg, making his life flash before his eyes for a moment until he realized it wasn't something trying to strip his flesh clean in five minutes flat like those piranhas that Ibara was rumored to feed particularly useless and/or troublesome people to. He really hated seaweed, but he shook his head, pushing all thoughts of the evil aquatic plant out of his head-this was important and he couldn't afford to fuck it up by missing something as easy and critical as taking a bath. 

After washing himself, trying all the time to not think about seaweed and how slimy and ugly and disgusting and slithery it was, he washed up, and, despite the goosebumps that popped up all over his body, he leapt out of the pond as fast as possible when he was done-this was no time to waste time, each minute had to count. Today was the day, after all, the day where he and his two closest friends would go and confess their undying love for the most beautiful woman on Treasure Island. 

They had planned this day weeks in advance, sharing all their meager brain power together to come up with the perfect plan. It was incredible, it was stupendous, it was flawless. It could not possibly fail-one way or another, one of them would win the heart of the most wonderful and charming beauty the small island nation had ever known, no matter how much effort or hard work it took. Laziness was unacceptable, and so was wasting time. Every moment counted, for otherwise any unplanned slip-up could threaten to ruin the whole operation and such an occurrence was beyond unacceptable. 

Back in his house, small and simple as it was, Kaito combed his hair, making sure not a single strand was out of place. He put on his best clothes, sprayed on a dab of perfume, and put on his best game face. He knew it was time. There was nothing more to be done, it was do or die and he wasn't in the business of dying without attempting to accomplish his greatest dream, not in ten billion million years. 

It was a cool, calm day outside, not too hot or humid according to the usual standards of Treasure Island, but Kaito, standing there with his two friends, was sweating like a pig in a sauna, nervously glancing around at any and everything in his path. Whew, you got this, come on now-as much as he tried to calm himself, he couldn't get the sweating to calm down, nor could he make his teeth stop chattering or the gnawing ache in his stomach go away. 

"Alright, men, this is it, the moment we've been waiting for." Enkai, who was a skilled fisherman, reminded them. "And may the best man win!"

"You said it, let's go!" Tenmon, the strongest of the trio, replied. 

Clutching the bouquet of flowers he had nervously and painstakingly picked earlier that morning, Kaito swallowed hard. Here goes nothing-

Amaryllis was walking along the path, carrying a bucket of shells. All she wanted to do was hurry up and finish her task so she could relax, but it was not to be. As three men jumped out of the bushes, all of them holding flowers, she froze, clutching on to her basket of shells. 

"Please, marry me!" 

"Huh?" Amaryllis had no idea what was going on, but then, when did anybody ever really know what the hell was going on around here? 

"Pick me!" 

"No, me!" 

"How about me?!" 

Kaito knew something was wrong when he saw the tears sliding down her face, her eyes watering and her expression mournful. 

"I'm sorry.... but alas, they come for me tomorrow." 

Kaito couldn't believe it. Of all the rotten luck in the world...

"It is my fate to join the master's harem. You three understand, don't you, what happens if we defy the master?" 

Oh, what a hopeless day. What a hopeless day indeed-running off into the woods with his friends, none of them paying any sort of attention to the direction they were going in, Kaito knew beyond a shadow of any sort of doubt, that this day would go down in history as one of the most cursed and unfortunate of his whole life. 

"What a weird day it's been..." Amaryllis though to herself, looking around to make sure she hadn't dropped any of her shells. "But now I might as well just go home and find someplace to store these shells." 

Yeah, sounds like a plan, Amaryllis told herself, unaware of just exactly who was watching her in the bushes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't guessed already, this is from the POV of one of the three guys who randomly confessed their love to Amaryllis during the Treasure Island arc.


End file.
